A new survey conducted by GT (Gay Times) magazine has found that gay and bi men are more likely to engage in bareback sex after using drugs or while drunk.

“The GT drug survey came about because we were bemused at the amount of news stories in the mainstream media about gay and bisexual men and drugs,” GT editor Darren Scott said. “It seemed, to me at least, that this had become an accepted misconception of gay lifestyle with little fact to back it up.”

The survey asked 1,000 gay and bi male readers about their relationships with sex, drugs, and alcohol. It found that three-quarters of respondents use drugs recreationally, and that those who do were far more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors.

Here are the survey’s other findings:

Two thirds of respondents said they had sex while under the influence of recreational drugs, and 60 percent said they were more likely to have sex with a stranger while on drugs.

30 percent admitted that taking drugs had led them to have bareback sex, and 54 percent confessed to having bareback sex while drunk.

More than half of respondents admitted to consuming cannabis, one third to taking cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy, and 11 percent to consuming crystal meth.

One in 20 admitted to injecting drugs or “slamming.”

“We set out to ask our readers to be as frank as possible about their lifestyle choices so that, at last, there would be some facts to either backup or debunk the many notions that are frequently alluded to,” Scott said. “What we found was fascinating, and sometimes upsetting, but if just one person now takes extra care when mixing sex with addictive substances in future, then we know we’ve done something right.”

Get Queerty Daily

89 Comments

Truveda whores! Just kidding it’s a personal decision most make knowing full well what the consequences are. The resources are out there for everyone to make their own judgement. My only problem would be if they made the decision to have bareback sex caught a disease then expected the tax payers to foot the bill. Sorry not my money!

With headlines like “‘Most’ gay men have tried drugs” , “Would you have bareback sex under the influence of drink or drugs? This survey says you might” and “Gay sex ‘linked to drink and drugs’” , it appears that rather than combat this misconception, the GT survey has instead served only to encourage it…

I’ve never really understood how you could meet someone and find yourself having sex with them a few minutes later. I frequent bars and playfully make out with some of the guys I get attracted to, but I never shag them — I have self-respect. Also, being in a relationship doesn’t guarantee you won’t catch anything either but it’s relatively safer. If you’re too drunk to use a condom, you’re too drunk to be having sex!

Well, this is one reason why PrEP is very good idea and should be encouraged. There is nothing wrong with having sex after a few drinks, but the more than half of guys cannot protect themselves in this situation should not have to pay a lifelong price for a bit of innocent fooling around in the heat of the moment. It is surprising, though, how many people think they should pay that price.

@Dxley, your self-respect can be destroyed by a bit of casual sex, it can’t be very solid in the first place, but whatever floats your boat.

@Nowuvedoneit: I understand where you are coming from, but I respectfully disagree. Many people get treated for chronic health conditions over the course of years that were caused by their own mistakes. Drinking, smoking, not exercising, eating low nutrition and/or high calorie food, working too long of hours, not getting enough sleep. It catches up with a person, and we foot the bill. I just don’t think HIV should get special exclusion. Especially since, a responsible person can make one mistake one time and get HIV.

So another words Drugs lead to poor choices shocker!(Sarcasm) Bottom line kids don’t do drugs and use a damn condom(if you choice to go bareback get tested and make sure your partner(s) also gets tested.

Oh good, another excuse for the bareback crowd.
I drink, and sometimes heavily. But I would never have bareback sex.
Those who do are not acting from drugs or alcohol. They do it because they’re self hating queens who don’t care about their own life or the life of their partner.
They are sick and twisted queens, and I don’t care if they’re 10% or 90% of the community. They’re still trash.

These #s would be more meaningful if there were a straight survey also– I don’t think we own the market on getting tipsy and making sex choices. It’s just that the stakes have been so much higher for us for the last 30 years. When I was young, and much more insecure, I totally relied on liquid courage to go after what I wanted anyway. I am past that now, and I was (absurdly) lucky with not seroconverting. And I won’t rule it out ever happening again.. But I know that I don’t NEED to get loaded to have the guts to trick. And I know that I usually won’t bottom unless the guy is incredibly hot and tiny. If it were otherwise, I would be at my MDs office getting Prep.

@Wilberforce, drinking heavily, as you say you do, is a similarly self-hating habit, so I don’t know how you get off calling other people names. There are a choice few I could call people like you if I were so inclined.

@Wilberforce: I was thinking the same thing. I’m leery of people who say they didn’t protect themselves, cheated on their partner, etc. because of alcohol. Would they get drunk and jump off a building? Probably not. Sometimes inebriation is just a convenient excuse to avoid responsibility.

@E T: I wasn’t excluding any of those diseases it is a bit heartless but they are many many avenues for people to gather information about drinking, smoking, and sex. I have a host of genetic heart health issues but I’m doing my damnest not to attribute more to it. I also have my own health insurance that gets paid for all the time and life insurance in case anything happens. It’s my personal responsibility to negate as much things that do me harm in order to lead a good healthy life.

How about always? Seriously. My fuck buddy was HIV positive. Killed when a car ran him over in SF… he was perfectly healthy, even being positive… when he was in a cross walk… supposedly protected. Make your choices, they are your choices. Live/die with them. For a decade, I didn’t want to do anything with anyone because of AIDS. Well, fuck that. I rather die having a fun life than having no life.
Deal.

Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see…
[REFRAIN]:
that barebacking is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
I try to find a way to make
all our little joys relate
without that ever-present hate
but now I know that it’s too late, and…
[REFRAIN]
The game of life is hard to play
I’m gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I’ll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.
[REFRAIN]
The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I’m beat
and to another give my seat
for that’s the only painless feat.
[REFRAIN]
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn’t hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger…watch it grin, but…
[REFRAIN]
A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
is it to be or not to be
and I replied ‘oh why ask me?’
[REFRAIN]
‘Cause barebacking is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
…and you can do the same thing if you please

@Billy Budd: If you want to commit suicide, I’m not going to stand in your way. Your body, your choice. Now if you’re trying to facetiously equate barebacking with suicide, then then your mind really is diseased.

Like we needed a survey to know this? It’s well known that people are more likely to engage in risky behavior when under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Sadly many of us turn to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of being discriminated or treated badly by family, or others for being gay, or because we are having issues coming to terms with our sexuality.

All the gay shaming and hate that comes from within the gay community certainly is not a help either.

@Nowuvedoneit: What if they were in a committed relationship but one of the partners lied? It’s not always so black and white. I understand what your saying someone who is a bug chaser and then wants medicaid to cover their meds pisses me off but they are rare. The idea that there are lots of people out there who want HIV because they know the govt will pay for their meds is a myth that is perpetuated by right wingers who don’t like the poor or gay people.

@seaguy: I’m sorry that whole they are in a committed relationship excuse holds no water. Whoever decides to put their lives in the hands of others is not looking out for their own interests. If you are in a committed relationship and your partner scoffs at using condoms then they probably didn’t have your interests in mind. If you decide later to still bareback because you’ve been in a long relationship it’s still on you and not your partner, you’ve failed to look after yourself.

I love all these guys on here who say they will “NEVER” bareback. You guys make it sound like having sex is like killing yourself. Take off your platform shoes, come down off the stage and join the rest of us. STOP with the nasty comments, like I won’t feel sorry for you or you get what you deserve. HOW stupid. Sounds like bunch of right wing homos on here.

@buffnightwing: I love all these guys out there who idiotically equate gay “SEX” with bareback anal sex. There is a whole universe of gay sexual experience you’re missing out on. But apparently it’s more important to you to get drunk or fucked up on meth so you can take loads up your ass. Wow, we’re impressed, please keep count because after all it’s a validation of how cute you supposedly are.

@buffnightwing: There are no reasons now that people don’t know what can happen if you have unprotected sex. Now there’s even a drug you can take that reduces your chances of catching HIV. So no don’t come off as condoning people as immature, if you remain willfully ignorant .The only stigma I see is refuting personal responsibility.

@pressuredrop: Making bad decisions does not absolve your part in it. The only time anyone should feel bad is if you were raped or drugged against your will. Party and play all you want but accept your decisions and consequences afterwards as adults. Don’t try making others feel pity for your lack of discretion.

@buffnightwing: What a load of bull! You didn’t go get tested because of “online stigma” from total strangers? All I see is a good reason for you to stay off the internet. Man up and take responsibility for your own health.

@Bromancer7: If every gay person in the world behaved like you, what would have happened? Have you ever read any paper about the dynamics of an epidemic? I recommend this introduction to system dynamics. It is the modeling technique that I learned at MIT.

No, it doesn’t absolve anybody’s part in it. That’s what makes them decisions and not random acts of fate.

My argument is that so many of the people trying to shame others for engaging in risky behaviors may not make bad decisions in one aspect of their life but probably make bad decisions in others. (In fact, I’m not entirely unconvinced that some of the people who are harping on bareback sex don’t end up having a lot more of it than they’re willing to acknowledge.) This argument can be applied to any disease where the causes are self-determined.

I really do agree that the equation of HIV contraction with stupidity is a major factor that shames gay men into not checking their own status. In essence, it’s totally counter-productive and faces the same problem that abstinence-only education faces, which is that shaming people doesn’t lessen tier desire for sex, only forces them to pretend it doesn’t happen.

The resident trolls may write whatever snotty comments they want about that being stupid, but – surprise! – that’s how a lot of people actually behave… and not just on the internet, where they happen to hang out all day.

I am starting to really hate the word “barebacking” to describe what is really just normal sex, something all straight people and most gay people do. The word has become a Pavlov trigger that just shuts down all reasonable thought and brings out the worst hysterics in many people.

@vive: Really, you think ALL heterosexuals engage in unprotected ANAL sex? Please don’t do that dumb Mark King thing where he conflates anal sex with vaginal sex.

And really, you think MOST gay men engage in unprotected anal sex? I doubt it. Got any proof, even any polling data? Just because you want to do it, and you talk most guys you encounter into doing it, and you’re on PReP so it’s extremely low risk, doesn’t mean “most” gay men actually do it or even want to. That’s just your corner of the world.

If you hate the word “bareback,” well, it was invented by the barebackers, not by their opponents. The sex ads where guys want that all say bareback or “BB.” Complain to them!

Believe it or not, many or most gay men just don’t get what is supposed to be so alluring about it. What exactly is the fascination? What is the big *fucking* deal?

This is totally aside from PReP which (as I’ve said before) seems totally appropriate for you.

At any rate, the bareback fanatics need to get their stories “straight.”

First they’re sure that anyone who disagrees with them – or worse, makes fun of them – must be a “nun” who isn’t getting any sex. But oh, wait, now they think anyone who disagrees with them must be a hypocrite who’s secretly barebacking?

@Ben Dover, yes, most gay men have condomless anal sex. According to the above poll at least 55% admit to doing so, but there are more formal studies that you can easily google. I seem to remember numbers between 60% and 80% but I am too lazy to look it up for you right now. The point is, yes, certainly more than half.

@Ben Dover, why separate anal and vaginal sex as if vaginal is “better” than anal? Vaginal sex is a major driver of the epidemic in the US, especially among minorities, and is the principal driver of the enormous epidemic in Africa.

@vive: (Sigh.) I’M NOT SAYING IT’S “BETTER”! Why, why, why do you ALWAYS do that??? I’m just noting the fact that it IS different in terms in of HIV transmission. Unfortunately it’s much easier to transmit anally.

@vive: I’m unfamiliar with GT so I don’t know what their demographic is. Queerty, uncharacteristically, does not provide a link to it, but the poll seems to be a self-selected one. (Perhaps you recall the Fox News echo chamber for Romney in 2012, or high school history class where they said the Literary Digest in 1936 predicted a landslide victory for Alf Landon over FDR and immediately went out of business after that.)

For instance, GT says 2/3 of its readership – or at least 2/3 of its poll survey – uses “recreational drugs,” however that’s defined. If they’re just tossing marijuana in there, I think that’s ridiculous. If someone were to conclude from this that “2/3 of gay men use recreational drugs” (other than marijuana), that’s simply libelous – more suitable for right-wing homophobes than for serious discussion.

@Ben Dover, I s under the impression they included alcohol in their definition of recreational drugs, but the above link to the original doesn’t work and I can’t be bothered to look it up.

I agree that it is depressing that so many people are having unprotected sex. I am certainly not against condoms, but I think the statistics reflect how much many guys despise using them, and it seems the time may be right to try other interventions besides condoms, so people at least have other choices.

@Billy Budd: I have no reason to lie. And I can only speak for myself. I don’t ever tell anyone else what they should or shouldn’t do, but I’m not going to make excuses for what I chose to do or how I chose to do it. I’m an adult, and I’ll do what I please, fully accepting the risks of my behavior. I don’t like condoms, have never been able to have pleasurable sex while wearing one, so it’s pointless for me to do so. Again, MY choice. What YOU decide to do is your business.

@Bromancer, that is understandable. I don’t enjoy sex with condoms either, at all (I can’t even reach orgasm that way) and simply couldn’t wait for a steady partner to have barrierless sex after having been single for 4 years. We only live once and refraining from satisfactory sex was making life not worth it for me.

I think the all or nothing US approach to safer sex may be counterproductive. For too long the message has been to always use a condom and has ignored the needs of those who don’t always do so. In certain other Western countries, health authorities have adapted their message to the actual situation on the ground and apart from the condom message advised guys who don’t use them on measures they can take to reduce their risk (a big no-no in American prevention messages), such as using lots of lube, not ejaculating inside, serosorting, and aggressively promoting PEP. How many Americans have even heard of PEP ever? (Never mind PrEP.)

The America black or white approach also may have the unintended side effect that guys who slip up a couple of times then assume that they are probably already infected and they might as well stop taking any precautions. Information that may be helpful to them in not giving up on precautions, e.g. the statistic that the risk per receptive anal encounter is actually quite low (about 1 in 300) is withheld.

What do the Sandy Hooks mothers have to do with anything? They went on television and gave direct interviews and whatnot, which I realize people still lie while doing, but it at least adds a bit of credibility to their ability to back their own beliefs.

I, on the other hand, am doubting the pristine credibility of internet strangers. On the topic of sex, no less, because nobody ever lies about that on the internet.

But no, do go on with telling me what I think.

I’ve never even argued that bareback sex was a good thing, or a bad thing, or anything, only that it’s unhealthy to call people who have HIV stupid because it creates a divide in the community and makes the problem worse. I didn’t refer to you as a nun because you aren’t having sex, I called you, and like-minded posters, nuns because the whole idea of shaming HIV-carriers is to make yourself feel better by separating and demonizing the “bad gays” who made bad decisions. And I also argued that it’s hypocritical to act like you still don’t make bad decisions every day.

Some of you guys need to get laid. I mean “laid” too, not just boring sex. What a bunch of self shaming homo hating group online here. Think I’m done posting on here, since you girls just want to attack each other. This whole conversation is exactly why HIV is out of control.

@lykeitiz: For the record I’m a top. And while it’s possible I’m one of the tiny % of people that is immune to HIV I really have no way of knowing for sure and wouldn’t even begin to know how to go about finding out.

And I was suggesting nothing beyond what I explicitly stated — my own experiences and choices.

@Bromancer7, you can actually get the genetic test to determine that. I did it about 8 years ago to see if my anxiety regarding infection (which was very high at the time) was necessary. There was a lab that did it via mail order – it may still exist. Turns out I am in the 10% who have one copy of the relevant allele, which means that while I am more resistant than average, I am not immune. You need to have two copies to be immune – only about 1% of the U.S. population of European descent does as far as I recall.

@ Cobalt Blue: For once, I’m agreeing with @vive. That’s pretty weak! Look around. What do you see? A staggering exponential growth of the human population. How did the straight people whose approval you want so much achieve that? That’s right; through unprotected sex.

I just got out of a long-term relationship with a guy I met in college and we never used condoms. Why should we? We were faithful to each other — that’s always the assumption in all relationships, especially in heterosexual ones, hence the exploding numbers in populations. Are they abnormal? Many heterosexual men have children scattered all over the place and many heterosexual women have multiple children by multiple men (some people here could even be products of those), and I’m pretty sure 90% of them didn’t bother getting tested before they copulated, but no one says anything about the unsafe practises simply because they’re heterosexual.

Sorry to break it to you, but most people don’t use protection and that’s why scientists are always trying to find other means of combating the spread of these often fatal diseases without compromising people’s sexual pleasure. It doesn’t make any of these people who engage in unprotected sex “…vicious, depraved or ignorant…” — it’s the fact of life, which is very apparent if you’d take off your blinders and stop being such a self-righteous prick.

I encourage safe sex, but I’m also realistic. Should gay married people use condoms? Should long-term partners? Assuming, of course, that everyone gets tested before any penetrative sex in a relationship. Don’t like bareback? Don’t bareback. “…a bunch of abnormals.” Wow!!!

@Dxley: Be careful with gay/hetero comparisons regarding HIV/AIDS though. It’s like comparing the frivolous spending of a person just getting by on a supplemental income to the frivolous spending of a millionaire.

@Nowuvedoneit: You just described EVERYONE with HIV. I am glad you are paying for my HIV meds. Glad it makes you mad. Of course it sounds like everything makes YOU mad. LOL

PS: You are also paying the OIL companies money, you pay for War, you pay for all sorts of things YOU don’t personally feel is vital. It’s called a DEMOCRACY and TAXES. I didn’t want to pay 3 trillion dollars for war, so a few thousand bucks for my pills is FINE WITH ME.

@vive: You seem a little obsessed with what straight people are doing. How is that even relevant to this discussion? Oooooh the unfairness of it, all those straight people having “barrierless” sex? There are lots of straight people having “barrierless” sex who really should use condoms! Paying child support for 18 years, on a minimum wage job, for a kid you hardly ever see, sounds even more annoying than getting HIV. Go to any Family Court and hear the tales of woe. Anyway I agree with you about HAART and PrEP etc.

@buffnightwing: I don’t quite get your situation. Since you’re already poz, is Truvada the only thing you’re taking? It’s almost always discussed here in terms of PrEP which of course is for neg people.

Barebacking is choice that we all must think about and consider. If you have several, anonymous partners, then I would not do it. If I have found the right guy, of course I will bareback with him. We cannot live out lives in fear that everything we do and eat, no pun intended, will kill us and destroy us. Life it too short not to enjoy some of the pleasure out there that are waiting for us. I am pro barebacking, but even with that, I still want to know their history.

The drug use and barebacking that’s rampant in the gay community just shows that human beings are sadly,very bad at resisting their biological urges and denying themselves pleasure,even when that pleasure has the potential for deadly or disastrous consequences and I doubt that will change anytime soon.

Newsflash… HIV isn’t going anywhere anytime soon… unless they find a cure. Truvada won’t eliminate it and if you get drunk or do drugs and have unprotected sex and become HIV positive then you have no one to blame but yourself and possibly the other guy if he lied to you. Kinda like what happened to me, except neither of us were drunk or high, and we had been together for at least a year….
And guess what, if you get HIV, then you have all of the fun of worrying about what’s going to happen next… These drugs suck bad. Just say NO!

I do know this much If your allergic to latex condom is a issue, I know I am not into condoms I always make sure my partner is clean and I check myself reg. I am into bareback and swallowing so I don’t let that stop me. I don’t use drugs or alcohol and I love men and the taste of men, but of course I am 42 now so sex stops for me no one wants anything to do with us gays over 40 so I am safe lmao….

I’ve only ever had bareback sex. My first time was bareback when I was 14 with another 14yo. Second time with a condom. there is a certain pleasure I get from sex that condoms take away. I think it’s the whole swapping fluids and being connected with someone. Being the case, I regret not being so picky when I was younger, but now I tend to have sex friends that I hold out for till the right ones cross my path. I get tested every 6 months and only 2 times in my life have I ever gotten anything, which was a uti once, and crabs when I was 16 and hooked up with a 19yo college kid and we didn’t even have anal sex. . I am honest about my status and I get tested 3 times a year when I’m being active and I expect the same honesty from my partners but that’s not the kind of honesty you can expect from random hookups. I’m so over the chaos of random hookups. I’m 30 and too old for that shit